ISLAMABAD: A moving and inspiring exhibit of artworks by building-painter turned artist, Tahir Bilal Ummi, that opened at Gallery 6 on Sunday was well received by art lovers and artists alike.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Shareen Ellahi, chairperson of the UK-based Mac Bevan Charity Trust.

“I am amazed to see the bustling streets, cheerful children and hardworking and talented people like Ummi and the rich culture of Pakistan,” she said in her opening remarks.

Mr Ummi is a talented artist and his work is impressive. He has painted the Potohar’s beauty very skillfully, she said.

Introducing the artist, Dr Arjumand Faisal, owner of Gallery 6 and curator of the show, said it could not have been more befitting way to celebrate Pakistan Day than to launching a talented working-class artist. “Bilal’s work is inspiring,” he said.

He was confident that the exhibition would change the artist’s destiny.

Tahir Bilal Ummi was born in Shahpur Saddar, a tehsil in Sargodha, in 1990. His father was not only a poet but an artist too – earning his living through his paintings inspired by Iqbal’s poetry, on miseries and tragedies of the partition of the subcontinent and also doing truck art.

He became Mr Ummi’s role model from when he was a child. However, Mr Ummi lost his father at the age of eight due to sudden cardiac arrest, leaving behind a widow, three daughters and three sons.

Financial conditions forced Mr Ummi to give up his education after fifth grade and to start working as a labourer at the age of 12. However, his love for art continued and in his free time, he took instructions from Tahir Mehmood, an artist colleague of his father’s.

“My father was my role model,” he said, adding: “When I opened my eyes I found myself surrounded by paintings.”

Mr Ummi moved to Talagang 11 years ago in search of livelihood. This inspired him to pursue his passion for art and he began painting regularly. Whatever money he could save after meeting family expenses, he would spend on buying paints and canvases.

In 2018, he met artist Ajab Khan, who provided him guidance. Mr Khan also invited him to work with him outdoors, which improved Mr Ummi’s painting significantly, as evident from his work on display.

The debut exhibit of over 20 landscape paintings mostly depict the Potohar’s enchanting topography from Jabba’s verdant farmland, mountains, springs and vast fields to Kallar Kahar’s beauty.

“I cannot recall a previous formal exhibition of a low income rural labourer’s artwork being held anywhere in Pakistan ever before, least of all in an art gallery located in a posh upscale area of Islamabad,” commented rights activist Tahira Abdullah.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2019